Neil Young on gas guzzlers: Long may you run

Tag : Auto Meter

But we're not talking about boxy little e-cars here. Young, wholikes his cars old and big, is launching his effort by converting a1959 Lincoln Continental to run on electricity and natural gas.He'll be at Salesforce.com's Dreamforce conference at MosconeCenter this morning to show off his ride.
All 5,000 pounds of it.
For Young, the chance to promote car conversions is much morecrusade than career. After 40 years of cranking out soulful balladsand raw classics, the Bay Area resident certainly isn't in it forthe money. His dream is to inspire people to repower or retrofittheir existing cars, increasing fuel efficiency and reducing theworld's manufacturing footprint in the process.
His interest comes at a time when the whole world is looking atways to reduce reliance on oil, for both economic reasons and as ameans to combat global warming.
"All we're doing is showing that you can run a car like this at 100miles per gallon or more," said Young, standing next to thecream-colored beauty at a South San Francisco auto shop. "Our mainfocus is on developing the technology. We can tell people how to doit. Or, we can do it for you." A car to write songs about
Young bought his Lincoln in the East Bay "about 15 years ago, afterit had been in a domestic dispute. The guy's wife had pouredhydraulic fluid all over it."
Ruined paint job and all, Young found himself behind the wheel of a1959 Lincoln Continental Mark IV convertible. At 2 1/2 tons and 191/2 feet long, it was the longest car built in its era. And let'sjust say its original gas mileage was best measured in feet ratherthan miles. But it is the kind of car you could write songs about.Long lines, sturdy carriage and flat-out huge.
The car's conversion to a green machine started about a year agowhen Young was feeling guilty about driving his oil-burningbehemoth. He'd already converted two of his other cars, a Mercedesand a Hummer, to run on used vegetable oil. And that was his planfor the Lincoln.
He approached a Wichita, Kan., entrepreneur named Johnathan Goodwinand his company, H-Line Conversions, to do the job. But once he gotto talking with Goodwin, he became convinced that there might be aneven better solution.
H-Line had pioneered a new type of alternative-energy engine thatmakes a car run on a variety of fuel platforms. Here's how it worksin a nutshell: For short runs, a car can be plugged in, charged andthen run strictly on electricity using a rotary engine and itsbatteries. For longer hauls, there's also a generator in the carthat runs on compressed natural gas. When electricity runs short,the generator kicks in and refuels the batteries. To make matterseven more interesting, the car's generator will actually feedelectricity back into your home when it's parked and plugged in inthe garage.
"It's a power generator," Young said. "This thing can power upabout a third of a city block. It'll make your meter run backward."
It didn't take long for Young to commit to a full-scale conversionof his Lincoln using Goodwin's methods. As the project progressed,Young decided to make a documentary about the project, and he andGoodwin decided to go into business together to get other folksinvolved.
The company's first goal is to win the $10 million Automotive XPrize being offered by Progressive Insurance. To do so, they haveto build a clean, production-capable vehicle that exceeds thealternative fuel equivalent of 100 miles per gallon of gas. Stars lend support to cause
Goodwin, who is well known in the conversion game and had evenconverted one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's trucks to electric,has nothing but good things to say about his new business partner.
"There's always a benefit to having someone who is famousinvolved," said Goodwin, whose refurbished cars cost drivers about5 cents per mile to run as opposed to about 13 cents per mile forstandard vehicles. "It always helps. It's great to see these kindsof people stepping up to promote change."
The two entrepreneurs will be taking the stage at the Dreamforceconference today to unveil the newly tricked-out Lincoln and preachthe conversion message.
Salesforce.com Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff, a friend ofYoung's, has stepped in to support the project, offering the youngcompany a raft of technology support, including a Web site thattracks the Lincoln's mileage and whereabouts online via a wirelessfeed built into the car.
"I'm going to be their first customer," said Benioff, whosecompany's new software technology is handling business processesfor Linc Volt. "I want to convert my Ford F-150. The boutique carsare fantastic, but I want a truck."
A customer such as Benioff could expect to pay from $10,000 toupward of $100,000 for a conversion, depending on the car and theextent of the modification.
Young and Goodwin aren't the only people championing the idea ofconversions. Electric car retrofits have been around since the1970s, and the idea is gaining ground in the current green businessenvironment.
Last summer, at a plug-in car conference in San Jose, Andy Grove,former CEO of computer chipmaker Intel Corp., suggested agovernment program to retrofit existing trucks and sport utilityvehicles with plug-in technology.
Felix Kramer, founder of CalCars.org, a nonprofit advocacy andtechnology demonstration group based in Palo Alto, is all ears.
"These are the only cars that get cleaner as they get older,"Kramer said.
Young has a simpler reason for loving the idea. His '59 Lincoln isbetter than ever.
"It's just a lot faster. A lot healthier," said Young, staring atthe refurbished classic. "It went from being a hog to being aswan."